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A promising new trend: Pairing EV charging with solar+storage
While the U.S. is working to electrify the transportation sector in an effort to move toward a clean energy future, a number of hurdles remain, most notably the reliability, accessibility, and sustainability of EV charging systems.
The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program has allocated $5 billion over the next five years for states to deploy a nationwide, interconnected network of EV chargers along thousands of miles of highways. California currently leads the country in the push for EV transportation, but the success of this initiative will depend, in part, on the viability of the grid to be able to handle the rise of EVs and the necessary EV charging infrastructure (EVCI) to support it.
One way to address this is to pair EVCI with on-site solar and energy storage solutions, an approach that can keep EV chargers running while alleviating pressure on the grid.
The benefits of combining EV, solar, and storage
There are several advantages to equipping EVCI with PV and BESS installations:
- When necessary, electric car batteries can be charged using the extra renewable energy stored in the BESS.
- When EV vehicles are not in use, their batteries can also be used to store energy—what is referred to as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.
- BESS can deliver extra energy back into the grid during periods of high demand.
- Besides serving as a backup power source during blackouts, BESS helps to control the variations in electricity demand created by EV charging.
At the forefront of the new trend
Blymyer recently provided design and engineering services for two EV charging projects that together mark a major milestone in the state’s EV transformation. Our team partnered with WattEV on the initiative. The company is a leading California-based charging infrastructure developer for heavy-duty electric powered trucks.
The EV charging depots, located in Bakersfield along the I-5 corridor in the state’s Central Valley and in Blythe, adjacent to the California-Arizona border, incorporate 25MW of solar panels and BESS. The rapid charging capabilities available from these depots reduce truck charging dwell time to less than 30 minutes (from what used to take nearly three hours).
“Solar + storage + EV installations are definitely the future of the renewable energy industry and an important growth area for us,” explains Stas Gorbis, Director of DG and EV at Blymyer. “Multifaceted projects like these are an ideal fit with our diverse expertise in clean energy infrastructure and end-to-end design and engineering capabilities. Very few firms in the industry offer the same depth and breadth of resources.”